130 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



they get in sight they form into single tile and advance in 

 a line. Each man has a bush which he holds in front of him, 

 so as to hide the upper part of his body. The boys are helped 

 to get up and are stood in a row between their camp and the 

 tires. When the goomat men reach the camp, they come round 

 one end of it, and form a row on the opposite side of the fire to 

 that on which the boys are standing. They then throw down 

 their bushes and dance for a brief time before the novices, and 

 then go into the rooingat camp and sit down. The rooingat men 

 then go out, and, picking up the bushes brought by the goomat, 

 strip all the leaves off them, dancing and making a great noise 

 by shouting " Wall ! wan ! " all the time they are breaking off the 

 leaves. 



Some of the goomat men remain with the men in the bush, the 

 others return to the women's camp. Those who intended remain- 

 ing had painted themselves jet black on the way out, but those 

 who intended to return were not painted. These goomat men 

 reach the bush camp about the middle of the day. More than 

 one lot of goomat men may visit the camp in the bush, and the 

 formalities observed on each occasion are the same. 



When it is determined to remove from the x'ooingat camp, the 

 wall at the apex of the V-shaped enclosure is thrown down, and 

 the men and boys march out through the breach and proceed in 

 the direction of the women's camp to another place, where they 

 erect a camp all in one line. Only one night is spent in this 

 camp, and the men remain up nearly all the night, playing diffe- 

 rent animals and singing. Next morning the men form a semi- 

 circle, dancing in front of the boys, who are put standing in a 

 row, and two men step into the clear space and swing bullroarers. 

 The blankets are then lifted off" the heads of the novices, and they 

 are told to look. The chief men then advance, and, stepping up 

 quite close to the boys in a menacing attitude, threaten them 

 that if ever they divulge anything which they have seen or heard 

 in the bush, they will lose their lives either by the hands of their 

 fellows or by supernatural agency. 



After this all hands remove from that place, still going towards 

 the women's camp, till they come to a water-hole, where a halt is 

 made. On the way from the last camp to this place, the novices 

 have been allowed to carry their heads erect and look about 

 them. 



